June 2005 · Middle East Trip
David & Noel Coory's Journey to Israel and Jordan
A travel diary documenting the first leg of an epic Middle East
adventure —Lebanon to Israel and Jordan
First Look
Overall
Impressions of Jordan
- Head-covered women.
- Old traditional families and customs.
- Very cheap shopping and hundreds of small shops.
- High value currency, their Dinar is worth more than the US dollar.
- Mosques everywhere.
- Jordan Valley border very hot.
- Arranged marriages.
First Look
Overall
Impressions of Israel
- Palestinian Arabs mostly warm and friendly.
- Jews paler skinned, mostly arrogant and unfriendly.
- Hasidim Jews in black suits and top hats, curly locks.
- Palestinian Arabs oppressed by Jews.
- Palestinian Arabs forbidden to enter parts of Israel.
- Giant 12 metre high, 200 km long concrete wall being built by Jews to divide off Arabs.
- Heaps of garbage and old cars in Palestinian areas.
- Whole of Jordan Valley hot.
- Nice fruit in Jericho.
First Look
Overall
Impressions of Jerusalem
- Unsightly black tents and shacks in Bedouin camps on outskirts of Jerusalem.
- Same junk jewellery sold everywhere.
- Arab Souk markets everywhere (if you’ve seen ten shops you’ve seen them all).
- Churches everywhere.
- Constant mosque calls to prayer and ringing church bells in Jerusalem.
- Skull caps (kepars) always worn by practising Jews.
- The sometimes funny, tummy-forward walk of , with their hands behind their backs.
- Hasidim Jews more cheerful than non-Hasidim Jews.
- Thistles growing everywhere.
- Thousands of tomb stones on the sides of the Mount of Olives.
- Hills and more hills.
- Impressive night views of city lights.
- Heavy young military police presence, armed with AK47 type sub-machine guns.
BREAKFAST AT THE SEVEN ARCHES HOTEL
A United Nations Of Diners
I sleep OK, but have funny dreams and wake up hot. I don’t feel refreshed like the other mornings of our trip.
Noel and I walk down to the large dining room and enjoy a nice breakfast. There is a virtual United Nations of diners present, many nationalities, skin colours and accents.
We eat enough food for lunch as well. I have two eggs, a toasted roll and white butter, thick yoghurt and fruit, a stringy orange, a mushy apple and orange juice.
“There is a virtual United Nations of diners present, many nationalities, skin colours and accents.”
THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE
Among The Ancient Olive Trees
At 8.30 am we are picked up by Gabriel and a driver called Mafooze in a van. Gabriel introduces himself and is then dropped back off at his office and we are left with Mafooze. He is not a guide, just a driver.
We are taken first to visit the Garden of Gethsemane, which is below our hotel in the Kidron Valley. In this well preserved olive grove we see huge gnarled trunks of olive trees which are nearly 3000 years old.
This was where Jesus was arrested the night before his crucifixion. Jesus and his 11 apostles walked down here from the last supper on the evening of Passover. About midnight a mob of religious officials were guided here by Judas and Jesus was arrested.
Jesus died the next day, on the day of Passover, as foretold by prophecies in the Old Testament of the Bible. His death was depicted and symbolised by the Passover lamb that has been killed and eaten on this very day by generations of Israelites from the time Moses led them out of Egypt 3500 years ago
The Jews do it even today on Passover (Easter), still awaiting the promised Messiah (or Christ in the Greek of the New Testament). The majority of the Israelites of Jesus’ day, and most today, do not accept that Jesus was their Messiah.
Jesus strongly criticised the hypocrisy of the Jewish religious Rabbis, and also, he came from the lowly town of Nazareth, whereas the promised Messiah was prophesied in the scriptures to be born in Bethlehem.
Jesus was in fact born in Bethlehem, but apparently the Rabbi’s jealousy of his power, plus their prejudice, prevented them from investigating and uncovering this fact. He was popularly known as ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ among the common people and that was enough for them.
We also visit the colourful and ornate Garden of Gethsemane church, located partly within the garden. There is a large flat rock in the church where Jesus is said to have prayed in his great distress in the garden, even to the extent of sweating blood, knowing what he had to go through the next day. He was then strengthened by an angel sent from God his Father. However there is no mention of a rock in the Bible account.
“In this well preserved olive grove we see huge gnarled trunks of olive trees which are nearly 3000 years old.”
BETHLEHEM AND THE SECURITY WALL
A Visit To The Birthplace Of Jesus
After this, we are driven out to Bethlehem. There we see for the first time the huge wall of concrete, eventually to be about 800 kms long, being constructed right around West Bank areas of Israel by the Jewish government. This is to try and keep the suicide bombers out of Jewish areas.
We would normally need to show our passports at this border, but because we have a tourist driver with us we are waved through.
We are next taken to a Bethlehem souvenir shop (inevitable with a guide). Prices in these places are sky high compared to street prices. There is a street market nearby, so I buy three Jewish yamukas or skull caps, (called kepars by the Jews). I bargain the price down 50%.
“I bargain the price down 50%.”
THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY
The Traditional Birthplace Of Jesus
Then our driver takes us a short distance to the Church of the Nativity. This is located on the supposed inn stable site of the birth of Jesus. An official guide, who charges us US$10 is appointed to show us around.
We have to duck to get in the low doorway of the church. It was evidently modified in the middle ages so that the Crusaders couldn’t ride their horses inside.
The church is very ornate inside.
The inn stable site is down some stairs, below ground level.
“We have to duck to get in the low doorway of the church.”
THE JEWISH HOLOCAUST MUSEUM
A Sobering Journey Through History
After this we are driven back to Jerusalem and our driver drops us off to tour the huge Jewish Holocaust Museum for several hours.
This museum of mainly old photographs, covers a huge area. You are forced to walk in a zig zag pattern for several kilometres in and out of the many rooms. The walls and fixtures of every room are lined with thousands of black and white pictures of the holocaust, some of them gruesome. And artefacts from the death camps on display.
There are also continuously running movie interviews with Jewish survivors in some of the rooms, plus old movies of Hitler’s impassioned speeches. One grim movie shows hundreds of emancipated Jewish naked bodies being bulldozed into long ditch graves.
The museum is crowded with silent Israeli tour groups. Rather a depressing atmosphere, but fascinating at the same time. No photography is permitted in the museum, which is annoying.
The long walk through the museum ends in a completely dark, huge circular room, with just glittering stars visible against the black ceiling. A man’s voice continuously intones the names of Jewish children who died in the camps. It has taken us about three hours to go through.
“It has taken us about three hours to go through.”
THE DAMASCUS GATE AND OLD CITY
Through The Streets Of Ancient Jerusalem
We meet our driver and are driven back to the tour bus depot. Our driver receives a phone call and finds that he has an emergency to attend to at home. Gabriel is apologetic and after we wait for about half an hour he eventually assigns us a new tour guide called Said (pronounced Saa-eed), another Arab who has a very loud voice and military bearing. He would not be out of place, barking orders on an army parade ground.
This next guided tour is of the walled, Old City part of Jerusalem. Because we are close to the Old City we don’t go in the van, but walk through the streets, about a half a km.
Said’s tour is quite fascinating, even with his sergeant major type personality. The gate we approach to enter the Old City by is called The Damascus Gate. Here, looking down a deep excavation under the gate, we are shown several levels of the Old City. There is actually an incredible 15 metres, we are told, from the present level, down to the original level of about 3000 years ago. Hard to believe. But we can see a long way down looking into this excavation and also later on, in another excavation in the Old City.
Evidently this is because every time Jerusalem has been destroyed, or its old buildings demolished, it has been rebuilt on the stone rubble of the previous layers. As our guide points out, they had no front end loaders and trucks to remove the rubble in those days.
So we are not walking the exact streets that Jesus walked, but rather a few metres above them. (We later go down to the Wailing Wall which is at the level of the city 2000 years ago.)
We then walk through the Damascus Gate into a most amazing proliferation of small, bazaar-like shops. Literally hundreds of them, lining narrow, 3 to 4 metre wide streets, (about four strides wide).
This noisy, jostling area is the Moslem Quarter of Jerusalem. There is also a Jewish Quarter, an Armenian Quarter and a Christian Quarter. Many of these narrow winding streets have been built over, so they become tunnels, lit up by naked light bulbs. These are strung on electric cables like Christmas Tree lights.
Some of these tunnel streets have high arched ceilings. Most of the streets are crowded with noisy people.
There is a pervasive smell of cigarette smoke everywhere.
Numerous narrow passages and stairways lead off these streets into small and very ancient homes. Some of them have open doors and we can see into them. They appear grotty in the extreme by Western standards.
Our guide leads us to the inevitable tourist shop. As usual we are offered a free drink of coffee in a tiny cup. Again as usual, we instead choose a free bottle of water. This shop has the same junk sold in the other shops. In fact the majority of shops sell exactly the same tourist stuff.
Next we are walked through the food section. Which has all kinds of exotic foods. Some we have never seen before.
“So we are not walking the exact streets that Jesus walked, but rather a few metres above them.”
THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE
Questions About The Crucifixion Site
Our guide then takes us to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is supposed to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus.
The church has a impressive, ornate, rather dim interior. There are tourists everywhere. We see a queue of European tourists (mostly women) chanting the rosary in a foreign language, waiting their turn to kiss the stone which is said to be the actual site of the crucifixion.
However, the whole thing doesn’t feel right to me some how. The Bible account says that the crucifixion took place at Calvary, Golgotha, or the place of the Skull, outside the city, whereas this site is located in the heart of the city. Furthermore, there is no tomb hewn from rock close by. I point this fact out to the guide.
He claims that this part of the city was once outside the city wall. That may be true, but it still seems too close.
I also say that the Bible says that Jesus was crucified on a hill. He replies, “It is a hill. Steps go up to it.” The steps he refers to are about five. They rise up about a metre.
Evidently in the year 326, the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine sent his newly converted Christian mother Helena to try and find the crucifixion location in Jerusalem. She identified this place and even claimed to find remains of the actual cross of Jesus itself.
This would seem highly unlikely after 300 years, or at least impossible to identify. Crucifixions occurred frequently (there were three on the day of Jesus) and the crosses were constantly reused. Poles were reported to be left standing in holes in the limestone rock. The victims being crucified were nailed to a cross member on the ground and then pulled up on to the pole with a pulley and rope. It was evidently the cross member that Jesus carried.
I find out when I get home that there is actually no mention in the Bible of Calvary being a hill. It is just depicted that way by artists and hymn writers.
Tomorrow we see a more convincing site near the tomb of Jesus which actually is a hill. The Romans would no doubt prefer that their victims be displayed on a prominent hill near the city, so that every one can see them and fear the punishment.
This is the end of our guided tour. We tell our guide we want to explore some more and that we will make our own way back to the hotel. Noel tips him and he walks off and leaves us.
“However, the whole thing doesn’t feel right to me somehow.”
THE JEWISH QUARTER OF THE OLD CITY
Among The Ancient Alleyways
Noel and I next walk through the Jewish quarter of the Old City. Here many of the roads are tunnels under the houses also but are twice as wide and the lights brighter. There is no rubbish lying around. Arabs may be warm and friendly people but they seem to be untidy.
We find a small museum and a replica of the famous seven branched Jewish candle stick called a Menorah. It is actually an oil lamp with seven lamps and was originally made for the Tabernacle of Moses’ day and later for Solomon’s Temple.
We then walk up on the roof tops of Jerusalem and see an Israeli military installation, and also some more tank type solar water heaters.
Then we come across something that looks incongruous among the ancient buildings, an internet shop. We then walk along some narrow alleyways of ancient Jewish homes. Below is a photo of their letter boxes, actually three of them together.
“We then walk along some narrow alleyways of ancient Jewish homes.”
THE WAILING WALL
At The Holiest Site In Judaism
Next we decide to go down to the lowest part of the Old City and visit the Wailing Wall. This is the only part left of King Herod’s Jerusalem Temple at the time of Jesus.
We first have to pass through a strict security check to get into this part of Jerusalem, x-rays of bags, etc. Our cameras have to be put into a plastic tray and passed through the x-ray machine. Young Jewish military personnel are everywhere.
The Wailing Wall is fronted by a large hot courtyard and the part nearest the wall is fenced off, with separate entrances through the fence for males and females. The Wailing Wall face is also divided into male and female sections.
After walking through the male gate in the fence, we have to pass by a Jewish religious leader who asks that we don a kepar (or skull cap) to go near the wall. There are paper ones in a box on a table but instead we decide to wear two of the real ones I bought this morning in Bethlehem.
Most of the Jews praying at the Wailing Wall are rocking backward and forward and praying out loud. I just stand quietly as Noel takes my photo. There a numerous slips of paper (prayers) tucked into the wall.
All round this Wailing Wall part of Old Jerusalem are Hasidim Jews with their black suits and high top hats. There are also other religious Jews with beards and skull caps. Some are talking in animated groups. Others walk around reading a holy book. All very fascinating and exotic.
We now decide to walk home to our hotel. We are not worried about losing our way as we can see our hotel up on the Mount of Olives from any high point in the Old City.
“We are not worried about losing our way as we can see our hotel up on the Mount of Olives from any high point in the Old City.”
AN EVENING AT THE SEVEN ARCHES HOTEL
Room Service In Jerusalem
We arrive back in our hotel late afternoon and I enjoy a long drink of water. I’ve been thirsty as all day. The tap water in Israel is fine. I have a short snooze on the bed and suddenly wake up, not remembering which country I am in for a few panicky seconds.
For our evening meal we decide to try out the room service. We order the popular Israel dish called Schwarma and Salad. Turns out to be a red cabbage and onion salad, plus a huge number of spicy lamb chunks. We also get a large pouched pita bread each. I also ordered a glass of milk, but it was powdery.
Good value all up, so we decide to have all our evening meals provided by room service.
“Good value all up, so we decide to have all our evening meals provided by room service.”
AN EVENING IN JERUSALEM
Fairouz And The Call To Prayer
On our TV we see trouble in the Gaza Strip and also on the Lebanese border. We also hear on TV the same kind of wailing music we heard in Lebanon, almost like Indian music. We have heard it a lot today in the streets. Mostly it is the famous Lebanese female singer Fairouz. (Since arriving home from our trip, whenever I play the CD of Fairouz that I bought in Beirut, it brings the exotic Middle East atmosphere flooding back to me.
My camera card became full yesterday. Today I had to start on Noel’s spare, small camera card. However tonight, in the hotel manager’s office I manage to copy all my photos off my camera card onto my 4 GB Ipod. I can now reuse my card.
“Outside the hotel we hear the Moslem call to prayer in the distance and also church bells.”
David & Noel Coory · Middle East Trip
June 2005 · Tauranga, New Zealand to Singapore and beyond
Redesigned with care · Original travel diary preserved